Big insurance team heads to Christchurch

At least five southern insurance assessors have joined a team of dozens converging on Canterbury in the aftermath of Saturday morning's 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

A spokesman for McLarens Young said half of the company's Otago Southland resources had been diverted to Christchurch to help with the thousands of claims expected.

Five of the company's southern assessors had been deployed to Christchurch, one of them from Central Otago and one from Invercargill, the rest from Dunedin. It could be months before some of the larger claims were completed and they could return south to their home bases, he said. However, the assessors would be replaced with others to "spell them".

"We haven't seen anything of this scale in modern times, the way it's shaping ... I've been in the business for 40 years," the spokesman said.

"There will be major rebuilding, if not replacement – it could be a couple of years until some of that work is completed."

Canterbury would need a lot of assistance and the consent processes for repair or rebuilds could pose an issue. Cunningham Lindsey chief executive Martyn Norrie, of Auckland, said his company was sending a "major response" to the Christchurch area.

More than 40 assessors had responded from throughout the country and joined the 13 Christchurch assessors who had been working since Saturday.

"We are in discussions with our offices in Australia, Canada and the United States to see whether we can get ourselves in position if even further resources are needed and we can bring them in from overseas," Mr Norrie said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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